Company halts plans for pasture-based dairy on Kauai

The Garden Island reports that the company will explore alternatives for food production on the land.

Amy Hennessey, director of communications for investor Ulupono Initiative, said in a statement that Hawaii’s environmental regulations “seem to unfairly” place dairy farms in the same category as wastewater treatment plants.

Community organization Friends of Mahaulepu headed local opposition to the farm, which included a lawsuit and travel to Hawaii Island to help a community there respond to an overflow of untreated effluent.

Critics said the dairy at Mahaulepu could impact drinking water and an already polluted stream. They worry that the dairy’s wastewater could make it to the ocean, just as waste from Big Island Dairy did.